On Saturday morning, the Dutch coastguard found a rubber dinghy adrift off Breskens in Zeeland. There were 38 people on board.
They were all men. Not a single woman. Not a single child.
Thirty-six of them said they were Afghans. The remaining two were from Sudan, and they were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling.
There were no identity documents or life jackets to be seen. Nor was there an engine.
But there were cans of fuel on board.
Dutch border police are now investigating whether the engine fell into the sea or whether someone deliberately removed it. Guess what we think?
A boat without an engine is a boat that needs to be rescued. And a boat that needs to be rescued is towed into port.
That is exactly what happened. The boat was towed to Cadzand. No one was injured, and no one was suffering from hypothermia. After a quick check, the 36 people were taken by bus to a nearby reception centre.
“This is the first time we’ve seen this in Dutch waters,” said border police spokesperson Doron Wallin.
It’s hardly likely to be the last time.
Let’s call a spade a spade. These are not refugees. Between Afghanistan and the Westerschelde lie a long series of safe countries. None of these 36 men needed to get into a rubber dinghy to save their lives. They got into the boat because they had paid for it.
The price for a crossing of the Channel is up to 2,000 euros per person, and it must be paid in cash in advance. It is not poor people from Kabul who have that sort of money to spare. These are pre-arranged journeys, organised by criminal travel agencies.
And who is left behind in Afghanistan under the Taliban? It is the women. It is precisely Afghan women that the Netherlands has decided to grant asylum to this year, because they live under a regime that has excluded them from society. But it is not them who are sitting in the rubber dinghies.
It is young men sitting there.
Now they are in a reception centre with every opportunity to stay. Almost eight out of ten Afghans seeking asylum in the EU are granted protection at the very first stage.
So the maths is simple. Break the law, pay the smugglers, jettison the engine and be rescued. There, a bed, food, a lawyer and, in all likelihood, a residence permit await. Norway does take them in, as we know. There are never enough of them.
It pays to be a crook in Europe.
Why would anyone do it any other way?
